


The L Word

by IanPeriwinkle



Series: Damian and Iris' Ridiculous Love Life [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: 5 Times, F/M, Other people make appearances - Freeform, Teenage!Damian, Teenage!Jai, The L Word - Freeform, but these are the most important people, pre-n52, relationships are hard, teenage!irey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 09:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IanPeriwinkle/pseuds/IanPeriwinkle
Summary: Five times Damian didn't tell Iris he loved her, and the time he finally did.





	The L Word

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of love these two as a pairing now.

The first time he tried to say “I love you,” it had been a spur of the moment decision, brought on by (what he would never refer to as) panic, adrenaline, and the driving thought that he may never see Iris again.

Unfortunately, though he was ready to say the words, and nearly blurted them out as Iris was thrown off a cliff by cultists, his words were lost in the wind when he jumped off the cliff to catch her. An idiotic decision, really, but she was worth every minute of rehabilitation he had to go through with his father and Grayson.

It wasn’t until after they were both on field again that he realised he hadn’t told her.

* * *

The second time, they were on a date.

Their first anniversary, to be more specific.

Damian had panicked over what to do, and where to go, and Iris had panicked over what to wear, and how to act, and the two of them had needed to be consoled up until the last minute by their brothers, Jai assuring Iris that she looked a vision, and Dick clapping Damian on the shoulder affectionately, telling him he was a good kid, and a good boyfriend, and whatever he did would be fine.

They’d gotten all the way to dessert – a rarity on dates between superheroes – and Damian reached over to take Iris’ hand with one of his small almost-smiles, that barely anyone got to see…

And then Harley Quinn fell through the window with a shriek.

* * *

 

Damian hated fighting with Iris more than anything else in the world. She was his rock – she believed he was good, and she kept him calm when nobody else could, and he appreciated that more than he could put into words.

Which made it all the more difficult to hear when she said she didn’t want to see him for a while. “Just get away from me!” she’d yelled, and his face had fallen, and he’d left for Gotham.

He contemplated whether to send the text he’d composed later that night – just a brief message, but one he thought conveyed his feelings accurately.

_Iris, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you with my comments. I l_ – He was half-way through re-reading the last sentence when he was knocked over by a barrelling force, and suddenly his phone was across the room, and his girlfriend was in his arms instead.

“Sorry,” She whispered into his chest.

Well, that was certainly better than a text.

* * *

 

At Christmas, Damian and Iris’ families decided to celebrate it together. It meant Dick got to be with his best friend, Barry and Bruce could talk business without bothering anyone else, and Jai and Irey weren’t getting on each others’ nerves without anyone else their own age around.

And now that Bart and Rose were engaged, it meant that not just one, but three of the few people who actually liked Damian would be around.

So the families split into their cliques, Dick and Wally moving to the living room to yell at each-other over video games, Selina taking Iris West-Allen (as opposed to Park-West), (for whatever reason, The Pied Piper), and Linda to the bedroom to talk about Damian-didn’t-even-want-to-guess, Bart and Tim wandered off to reminisce about their time in Young Justice (with Rose following closely behind, not wanting to get too far separated from her fiancé), and Iris and Damian taking a walk down to the Batcave (unfortunately accompanied by Jai).

Once they were down there, though, it was easy enough to lose him. Jai was a hacker, and a nerd, and he quickly immersed himself in their computer systems. There was a good chance, Damian thought, of Jai joining them in superheroics as support – it was just a matter of pitching the idea to the adults in their lives, and attempting to set up a new Young Justice (because obviously, there weren’t enough super-kids for a Teen Titans group just yet).

Once they’d lost him, and Damian had moved his thoughts away from Jai, and towards his girlfriend, Damian and Iris climbed down to one of the lower training platforms and began to spar. Just something light and fun – not too serious, considering they were still wearing their ‘nice’ clothing. But as per usual, their light sparring turned into a competition, and soon enough they were violently tackling each other.

Damian pounced on Iris, knocking her to the floor, and lowered himself until they were nose to nose.

“Iris, I l –“

“Hey! Are you kids coming up for dinner or what?”

* * *

 

Even though Damian desperately hated it when he and Iris fought, he actually hated it more when she fought with her twin. The two of them were close, but they had some still unresolved tension from their childhood that Damian didn’t care to become involved in.

Yet, every few months he seemed to be dragged into it.

The three of them had been “hanging out” in the Watchtower that day while Damian had monitor duty, and everything had been relatively calm. The twins had been working on their homework, Damian had been working on his homeschool work, and the three of them had been co-existing in relative peace.

And then Jai had made a comment that somehow sent Iris from being her typical calm and placid self, to throwing her brother across the room.

“Iris!?” Damian had asked, panicked, before running over to check on Jai. He was already sitting himself up when Damian got there, and he ignored his friend in favour of sneering at his sister.

“What, going out of your way to _prove_ you’re better now? Way to rub it in, sis,”

Iris was huffing furiously, face reddening. It almost looked like she was going to speed forward and attack, but instead she ran off. Damian thought he’d heard her shout “Jerk”, but couldn’t be quite certain.

Jai seemed to calm after a moment, and he stood up with Damian’s assistance.

“You should go after her,” He nudged Damian, “she’s _your_ girlfriend, after all.”

Damian nodded, and ran after her, leaving Jai in charge of the monitor for the time-being. He’d make it up later.

He found her fairly quickly. Iris always seemed to go to the same place when she was upset – a little park along the riverside in Keystone. She was curled up on a bench, staring out at the water angrily.

“Iris,” He reached out tentatively and touched her shoulder. She leaned happily into the touch, so Damian figured it would be safe to sit down next to her and pull her in for a hug. “Iris, I’m sorry about Jai…” He wasn’t quite sure what to say, “I lo –“

“Just be quiet,” She interrupted him with a small smirk. “Just sit with me, okay?”

And so he did.

* * *

 

It wasn’t when Damian expected it that it finally happened.

He had wanted it to be romantic – a big reveal, maybe. He’d wanted Iris to swoon over him, and for them to be happy, and to celebrate.

He’d wanted them to be alone. He’d wanted them to be a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and a little bit more ready to face what adult life had in store for them.

He certainly hadn’t expected the word “love” to first come out while sobbing over his girlfriend’s unconscious body, while their families stood around the two of them.

Damian’s hands were clenched tightly in her uniform, which was caked with blood and grime from the mission they’d managed to stumble back from (barely). He hadn’t changed out of his yet – he could feel the stab wounds shifting under his uniform, and he’d already brushed aside every offer of assistance he’d received, but he couldn’t bring himself to move away from Iris.

Thankfully, it looked like she would get better quickly (thanks to the speed force working its mysterious magic), and as soon as the doctor said that, he’d felt a weight lift from his chest, had brought their faced together for a kiss, and had mumbled to her through sobs “I love you, Iris,”

 


End file.
